Tigers star returns fire at Pie Treloar

Whether he was misquoted, misrepresented or simply misunderstood it seems Adam Treloar can still expect a hot reception when Collingwood face Richmond early next AFL season.

The 22-year-old unintentionally fanned the flames of the intense rivalry between the clubs when he said that Collingwood’s superior list was the main reason he chose the Magpies over the Tigers during this year’s trade period.

Treloar tried to put the genie back in the bottle after his comments caused a stir on social media and earnt him a verbal whack from Tigers legend Kevin Bartlett.

He said via his Twitter account that he “never once had a dig at Richmond” during a memorable first press conference in black and white.

But the damage had been done.

“I think Adam got a bit star struck when he was in front of the cameras and the microphones,” Tigers veteran Brett Deledio said on Friday.

“It is what it is – it just makes round two pretty interesting doesn’t it?

“Of course he’s going to say that about his side but I’m going to say the (same) about my side. We’re very confident with where we’re going.

“Adam said what he said (but) we’ll just worry about what we’re doing inside our four walls. We don’t need to stress too much about what’s being said across the road.”

Deledio spoke to reporters ahead of Richmond’s first pre-season training session at Punt Road as the Tigers look to put the pain of last season’s elimination final defeat behind them.

Deledio didn’t stew over his club’s third elimination final loss in a row but the star veteran agrees preventing another swift AFL finals exit will motivate many of his teammates in 2016.

“Some blokes will probably be motivated by that more than others,” he said.

“Other guys will just look to motivate themselves by striving to get as good as we can and win that ultimate prize.

“It’s something that will always be there but I’m certainly not stewing over it.

“We’ll learn from it and move on.”

Avoiding the same sluggish starts that have hampered each of their past three campaigns will be a key for Damien Hardwick’s men as they look to remove elimination finals from the equation altogether by snaring an elusive top-four berth.

Deledio, 28, managed calf and Achilles issues through his last pre-season campaign and while he’ll undergo another modified program, he didn’t require any post-season surgery and has a clean bill of health at the start of this preparation.

The Tigers’ most recent first-round draft pick Daniel Rioli and star defender Alex Rance, who the club granted extended leave, were the only players not to train, with Rioli to join his new teammates on Monday.

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